Return of Tak and Stuff
by PartyPoisonandFunGhoul
Summary: By Fiona   Tak returns to Earth to convince Zim that his mission is a fake, and to "start over" on Earth  go to school, make friends . DaTr, ZaDf, ZaGf  maybe implied ZaGr, but not really...  I FAIL at summaries, but bare with me... Finished! Please R
1. Prologue

Prologue

Setting: A small Irken ship, resting on Earth's moon.

_Tak's POV _

I stared down at the screen and scrolled through pages and pages of text, both Irken and English. _Come on, _I thought. I had to find it. I had to.

About four years ago, I had tracked a fellow Irken named Zim to planet Earth and tried to destroy it. Zim believed this was his job, and, with the help of a robot and two human children, they stopped me. Later, I was forced to abandon my small spacecraft via escape pod, and when the ship crashed somewhere on Earth, I returned to Irk with the help of some rouge Vortians, who held no grudge against the Irken armada.

After some mocking from various acquaintances and a few creepy dreams, I realized that I was ashamed. Ashamed that I had tried to destroy the planet of a boy who had believed I was his friend, for one, but also ashamed that I was part of a race that would send one of their own on a false mission for their own amusement. I wanted no part of that. In fact, the reason I was here was that I wanted to tell Zim the truth.

The computer made a small beeping noise_. _My heart pounded. I closed the window I had been looking at and opened another one. There was a diagram on the window. Next to it was a dotted line and some more text. I stared at it and forgot to blink until my eyes began to water. I shut down the computer.

"Mimi!" I shouted. Beside me, a small SIR unit sat up and gave me her undivided attention. "Mimi, I've found it! I know where they are!" I laughed and hugged Mimi, who made a small noise that signaled that she understood. I seized the ship's controls and sped toward the planet. My memory was so advanced that I didn't need to give the directions a second glance. The ship broke through Earth's atmosphere and I steered a bit to the left. I closed my eyes and counted. _One… Two… THREE! _

I hit the break and pressed a button. I landed smoothly, as I knew I would. I pressed a button on the bracelet I wore. I saw my reflection in the computer screen flicker from an Irken to a young human girl. I opened the cockpit of the ship and Mimi and I jumped onto the ground.

I looked up at the stars. I had forgotten just how beautiful Earth's night sky was. Staring up at the constellations that night, there were so many things that I didn't know. I didn't know how much I had hurt a friend. I didn't know I would fall in love. I didn't know how drastically my life would be changed. And I had no idea that only about a mile away, a dark-haired teenager was dreaming about my return.


	2. Tak's Back

_Dib's POV _

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! _screamed my alarm clock.

I groaned and rolled over. First day of school. Awesome.

Most kids, no matter what, always look forward to the first day of school. They have expectations for the school year. They think, hey, it's gonna be better than last year, which may be true in most cases. Not me. For me, the new school year means another nine months of getting beat up, yelled at, or made fun of because of the size of my head, or my fascination with the paranormal, or Zim. Who cared if it was my last year of Junior High! It was still going to be just as bad as the rest of my life had been. I had Zim to thank for that.

Oh how I hated him. Oh how I longed for the day I could expose him for what he was-an alien. An evil, moronic, criminally insane extra terrestrial who was trying to destroy the human race. For the past four years, he had been relentless in his attempts to bring doom to planet Earth. He had turned me into a giant bologna, attempted to destroy my brain, and used rubber piggies to destroy my past(long story). Other than that, though, he was just great.

I smacked my alarm clock to get it to shut up. Then I stood up and stepped over piles of junk to get to my dresser. _Note to self: I should probably clean my room. _I got out a pair of tight black pants and a dark blue T-shirt. As I got dressed, I heard the usual sounds of a school morning in my house. My dad was having an animated phone conversation with one of his partners. My sister Gaz was blasting music from her room as she got ready for school. Outside my window, kids yelled and laughed as the walked past our house.

I buckled my belt and reached for my favorite black jacket and found myself singing along to Gaz's music. "_He wears his heart safety-pinned to his backpack; his backpack is all that he knows…"_ Of course she would pick that song to listen to on the first day of school.

I walked out my bedroom door and down the hall to the bathroom to wash my face. As I splashed water on my face, memories of the dream I had had last night came back to me.

In my dream, I was back in fourth grade. I was yelling at a blue-haired girl named Tak, saying things no nine-year-old would say. Tak was begging me to forgive her for… For what? Trying to kill me? Posing as my… Anyway, I was yelling and she was crying and it was not a pleasant dream. Mostly because it was a continuation of a real-life experience. Oh, joy.

I messed with my hair a little, but not much, because it pretty much stayed the way I wanted it to. I didn't know why I kept my hair that way, all I knew was that I had for so long, it would feel weird to change it now. Someone banged on the door.

"What?"

"Dib, quit taking so long. You don't own the stinkin' bathroom!" Gaz called through the door. I opened it and walked out. As I passed her, I noticed something about my twelve-year-old sister.

"Are you wearing makeup?" I asked with a smirk. I found the idea of silent, apathetic Gaz wearing makeup funny.

"Ooooh, someone took their observant pills today!" she retorted. We glared at each other for no reason other than we were so used to doing so. I broke eye contact and made my way back to my room to get my cell phone and backpack.

Once I had them, I ran downstairs to eat. My dad still had a Bluetooth in his ear, but he had ended his conversation.

"Good morning, son!" He sounded cheerful, like he always did. That was the great thing about my dad. He was hardly ever angry, but he wasn't creepily happy, either. He was a pleasant person when he was actually talking to you, although he was a little conceited. He had good reason to be, since he was a famous scientist and all.

"Morning," I replied, pouring myself some cereal. That was the end of our conversation.

Gaz came into the kitchen and grabbed my bowl of cereal just as I was about to take a bite. She took a spoon out of her pocket-and don't ask why she had it- and sat down next to me. I simply stared at her. There was no point in pointing out that she couldn't go around taking things from people, because somehow, she always got away with it. And so, in theory, she could.

Dad glanced at the clock. "You two had better get going, or you'll miss your bus."

When we got off the bus in front of the Middle Skool, I immediately spotted Zim. He was standing next to a puddle of mud and looking completely oblivious to his surroundings. The opportunity was too good to pass up. I snuck up behind him and shoved him as hard as I could. He landed on his face in the puddle.

Everyone laughed, except for Zim. He stood up and glared at me.

"Laugh now, human fithies! Oh, yes, you may be amused now, you may thrive on the supposed destruction of my entire being, but wait! Wait, my peers! Soon you will all be doomed! DOOMED I TELL YOU!" This was followed by a long maniacal laugh which ended in a coughing fit.

"Well, I can see some people never change."

Everyone turned at the sound of that voice.

_No! _I thought, _Please, please no! _

A girl was pushing her way through the crowd that had formed around Zim and me. I recognized her immediately.

I looked at Gaz to see what her reaction would be, but she was too busy with her video game to care about anything. Go figure.

The girl looked at me and smiled sheepishly, as if she knew how angry I was to see that she had the nerve to come back. I glared my most malicious glare-which wasn't bad, since I was, after all, Gaz's brother.

"Dib, I-"

The bell rang. I pushed past other people and made my way inside. I wasn't interested in anything Tak had to say.


	3. The Confrontation

_Dib's POV (again) _

"Dib... Go sit with… Zim."

Zim looked up at me and had a look on his face that said _This is your fault! _I ignored it and carried my stuff over to our table. Mr. Faber, the science teacher, continued assigning seats, and I began doodling in my notebook. Zim cleared his throat loudly. I ignored him. I drew a small picture of a ghost on the paper. Zim cleared his throat again, this time louder. I cringed and kept drawing. I drew a little spaceship. He cleared his throat _again_, and it was the most annoying, obnoxious, disgusting sound ever.

"Would you cut that out?" I hissed.

Zim looked around the classroom, and leaned close to me.

"Incase you haven't noticed, _Dib-_" he said my name the way someone would mention an infectious disease-"Tak has returned to Earth again-"

"That's redundant."

"What?"

"You said 'returned again.' That's redundant. If she's returned, it means she was here before, and you don't need to ad 'again'.

He stared at me like I was crazy. "Anyway," he continued, "she's back. We need to get rid of her."

Some kids were giving us weird looks. "Can I help you?" I asked. They looked away.

I turned back to Zim. "What do you mean, 'we?' It's my planet! You've been trying to destroy Earth since I was nine!"

"So you admit it's my job, and Tak has no right trying to take it away!"

Silence.

"Come on, Dib. Help me get rid of her."

"I'm not going to help you! I'm going to do it myself."

By now, class had started, but we didn't notice.

"But-"

"Drop it, Zim."

"Fine! I don't need you help! IRKENS NEED THE HELP OF NO ONE! NO ONE!"

Zim then noticed that he had the whole class's undivided attention. He blushed.

"Well, good luck, mister self control," I muttered, and went back to doodling in my notebook.

_Lunch Period _

_Zim's POV _

"Zim!"

I looked around, trying to find the voice that was calling me. Someone grabbed my arm. I screamed and whirled around. Tak was standing there, with one eyebrow raised.

"Do you always scream like that?" she asked.

"When I'm scared, yes!"

She opened her mouth to say something, then shook her head, as if she changed her mind.

"Anyway, I have to tell you something.

"About what?"

"It's about-"

"Wait! Wait! Oh, WAIT! WAAAAAAAAAAIT! Wait wait wait!

"What?"

"I have something to tell you first, Tak!"

"What?"

"It's about my mission!"

"_WHAT! _For the Tallest's sake, WHAT IS IT?"

I took a deep breath, as people do when they are about to say something important.

"Earth is mine, Tak! You can't have it! You already tried taking my job once! It won't work again! I can singlehandedly stop you whenever I-"

She punched my arm to get me to stop talking. In my opinion, she punched me a little too hard.

"Zim… I'm not here to take over Earth. And you're not either."

I stared at her.

"Huh?"

"Your mission's a fake, Zim. The Tallest just sent you here to get rid of you."


	4. The Plan

_Tak's POV _

After school, Dib called his dad and told him that he was going to a friend's house for a while, and we set off down the street. On our way to my base, Dib asked me some questions.

"So… I thought most Irkens stayed… You know, short. Why are you and Zim the same height as average middle schoolers?"

I looked around to make sure no one could hear us.

"See this?" I held up my hand so he could see my bracelet. He nodded.

"Well, it's really advanced technology that alters my body's molecular structure just enough to increase my height, change my skin tone, whatever. They're really rare, because they can be dangerous. Some idiots have tried to permanently change their appearance and ended up… Not alive."

Dib seemed to understand. "What about Zim?"

I thought for a moment. "I don't really know what caused Zim's growth spurt, but I'm guessing some human hormones somehow infiltrated his body and made him grow the same way human boys do… Or something."

"…Oh. Okay."

We walked in silence for a few minutes. Dib jerked his head to the side to shake some of his black hair out of his face. Something about the way he did it seemed, to me, quirky and… Attractive. I shook the thought out of my mind.

"So, why did you decide to tell Zim that he's not really an Invader?" asked Dib.

"Well… I just thought that it was… Kind of cruel that the Tallest were just using him for entertainment. I mean, really, would you let someone go on thinking they were doing something important if they weren't?"

"He did get you stuck on that military training planet for years, though."

"Even so, my stupid conscience was telling me it was the right thing to do."

"Whoa, I didn't know Irkens had consciences!"

I smiled a sarcastic sort of smile and kicked a dented soda can out of my way.

We soon reached my base, which was an oversized hotdog stand called the Deelishous Weenie. We ran around to the back of it, where I found a small, barely noticeable red button. I pressed it, which revealed a narrow door. I grabbed Dib's hand and lead him in. We ran down a short hallway, which opened up to my main lab.

"Holy cow!" breathed Dib. He seemed awestruck.

_Dib's POV _

I was awestruck. I mean, I had been in here before, when I was nine, but Tak seemed to have made some improvements. I craned my neck so that I could see everything. Lasers suspended strange organisms in midair. Above our heads, large mechanical hands were handling tools and modifying their surroundings. A large computer screen was displaying footage of the street outside. It was probably for security.

About this time, I noticed that Tak was still holding my hand. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Her face reddened and she let go.

"So… What are we gonna do?" I asked. Tak messed with her bracelet, and before my eyes, I saw a pretty, tall teenage girl transform into a short, green-skinned Irken female. I followed her to a small round table with four chairs set around it. We sat down.

"We need a way to get Zim to come here, so I can show him some proof. I guess we could kidnap him, but he'd be less likely to cooperate…"

"I don't know, most people don't mind getting kidnapped."

Tak looked at me for a few moments before realizing I was being sarcastic. She shrugged it off.

"What if you told him that you were actually trying to take over earth this time, but you needed his help, so you needed him to come over here… So he could… I dunno, help you with… Stuff, and then send a transmition to your leaders without them knowing he was there, and get them to talk about him?"

Tak looked thoughtful. Then she smiled at me. Then her smile widened.

"I don't know whether to thank you or me mad that I didn't think of that myself."

"Your welcome."

_Zim's POV _

"GIR!"

The little robot landed head-first on the ground next to me. His eyes glowed red and he saluted me.

"There you are! I keep telling you, Gir, when I say 'watch the weasels', I mean, 'DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE THEIR CAGE!'"

Gir stared at me. Then he held up the chew toy he'd been playing with.

"MASTER! Lookie what I found! It squeaks!"

He demonstrated this by repeatedly bashing it against the side of his head. I groaned quietly.

"GIR! Help me gather the weasels. I have an evil plan to work on!"

"Oky-dokety!"

I heard a buzzing noise.

"INCOMING TRANSMITION," my computer said in a monotone. I jumped up on the couch and pressed a button on the wall, next to the framed monkey picture. The picture slid aside, revealing a screen flashing the words ACCEPT? and DENY? I selected ACCEPT. The image transformed to that of Tak, and I scowled.

"What do you want, Tak?"

"I have a confession to make, Zim. You were right, I am here to try and conquer Earth. But I need your help."

I chuckled.

"Why should I help you, Tak?"

"Because neither of us can-"

I didn't hear the rest of her sentence, because I became distracted my the texture in the wall. Next thing I knew, Tak was shouting my name.

"ZIM!"

I blinked.

"Huh?"

"I think I may know of a way we can destroy this horrific planet, starting with that annoying roadblock, Dib."

She had finally caught my interest.

"And?"

"I'm not going to tell you now! Just come over to my base tomorrow after school, and I'll show you."

I smiled evilly.

"Excellent."


	5. Why Are You Staying?

_Tak's POV _

"So, I'm an annoying roadblock?" asked Dib, raising an eyebrow. For some reason, I stuttered when I answered.

"No, I… I needed… Zim wouldn't have… Well, I had to say something believable!"

Dib smirked.

"What?"

"Nothing."

And so we sat in silence for a few minutes. Dib showed no sign of leaving, but I didn't mind. It wasn't like I had anything to get done.

"Um… So…" I jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Are you going to be here long?"

"I'm planning on living here for the rest of my life," I told him.

"Really? Isn't than against some… Irken military desertion law or something?"

"I don't think so, but even if it was I would stay."

I couldn't tell if he was glad I was staying or not. It occurred to me how weird it was, being shorter than him. Last time I had seen him, he had been an annoying, big headed child, and I had been a good three inches taller then him. Now he was… Well, still annoying and big-headed, but he was much taller now. I hadn't grown at all.

"What do you think Zim's gonna do once he finds out?"

"Well, you know him better then I do, don't you?"

"I guess…"

More awkward silence. Dib began looking around my base, which he seemed to find interesting. I sat there and watched his face, reading every expression. He suddenly looked at me.

_Dib's POV _

"Why are you staying here?" I asked.

She began examining the tips of her fingers (I wasn't sure if Irkens had fingernails).

"To start over."

"…Meaning?"

She looked up at me with those narrow, violate eyes. She looked annoyed.

"Meaning that on Irk, everyone hates me now, I can't become an Invader, and I have discovered my unhealthy desire for friendship. Happy?"

"What do you mean 'unhealthy?'"

The pretty Irken female sighed.

"On Irk, any form of love-and that includes friendship-is forbidden."

I had heard many things about Irk that made it sound stupid, but this was ridiculous.

"Forbidden? I mean, I guess I can understand 'frowned upon'… Wait, no, I can't! That's just stupid!"

"Is it really?"

"Um…" I didn't understand what she meant. Tak gave me a piercing look that almost made me want o shrink away.

"See, Dib, the Irkens are a race of war-oriented beings. Thousands of years ago, Almighty Tallest San decided that all that friendships lead to was hindrance. She thought that if an Irken soldier was busy thinking about a family, or a loved one, or a friend, or even a smeet, they would become distracted with that, and they might actually put them above the Armada, priority-wise."

That made sense, sort of.

"Well, if you don't have families, how do you… You know… Keep existing?"

"Irken smeets are cloned in a gene bank. They have no one to take care of them, so they begin learning the art of survival at an early age."

I wondered if all Irkens talked like they were in a science-fiction movie.

"So… You partly came here because you wanted friends?"

Tak leaned back in her chair and stretched.

"Partly. But, that's a minor thing right now."

"Oh… Okay."

"_So, I won't hesitate, no more, no more, it can not wait, I'm yours-" _

"Oops… My phone."

I made a mental note to change my ring tone to something less likely to create awkward moments and answered my cell phone.

"Yeah?"

"Dib, dad says to come home so that we can eat."

"'Kay."

Gaz hung up.

I sighed and looked over at Tak.

"I gotta go. Could you show me the way out?"

The whole time I was walking home, I thought of what Tak had said about friendship, and wondered if what she had said had had any truth to it. Not that I would know, since the closest thing to a friend I even had was Gaz, but I still wondered what it would be like to live in a world where the only things that mattered were height and how handy you were with a weapon.

As I walked, I thought back to four years ago, when I had truly thought Tak was my friend. I had been so happy to have found someone who cared about what I had to say.

"_It's just that I'm not used to people actually being interested in my paranormal studies…" _

I also remembered how skeptical I had been when Zim had told me that Tak was an alien.

"_Come on! I like Tak! And she hates you!" _

I had to smile at the memory of my younger self. _I was such a sucker for an ally… _


	6. The Tallest

_Zim's POV _

The last class of the day dragged on slowly. It didn't help that Tak was in that class, so I was constantly distracted by the thought of her plan to destroy Dib. I grinned evilly at the thought.

The bell finally rang. I stood up quickly, almost knocking my chair over. I grabbed all my books and pushed past my other classmates to get to Tak. She smiled at me when she saw me. Unfortunately, Torque saw it, and whistled as he passed. Tak rolled her eyes while I glared at him.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Not here!"

"Okay! Fine!"

"TAK! Hey, TAK!"

We both looked up at the sound of the Dib-monkey's yelling. Then Tak looked at me.

"Wait for me outside, Zim. I'll be right there."

I walked down the steps and onto the sidewalk

"So, Zim, is Tak your _girlfriend?_" taunted Zita. I glared at her. She obviously remembered the last time Tak was here.

"Hey, he's not denying it! It must be true!" Sara giggled.

"They're so cute together!" squealed Mary.

This was getting annoying. To be perfectly honest, I would rather have my antennae pulled off than have Tak be my "girlfriend". Still, I reasoned, these girls were vapid and stupid. They wouldn't believe me no matter what I said.

"I heard that you're walking home together!" scoffed Iggins. Now I was really angry. Iggins wasn't even in our grade; he was Gaz's age, and he was sticking his nose into something that didn't concern him.

I shoved him away from me. My face was burning, but believe me when I say that it was from anger, not embarrassment.

Finally, Tak and Dib emerged from the building. They both had unreadable expressions on their faces. I didn't really care what the delay had been. Tak made her way through the vast sea of adolescents. Everyone started laughing. She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Zim, we have work to do."

"Oh, yeah, 'work!'" called Letter M, and everyone laughed louder.

"I hate humans," I said through gritted teeth.

"Tell me about it," snorted Tak.

"Okay, Tak, I've been waiting long enough. What is your plan?"

"First I need to make a call."

I glared at her as she messed with the bracelet she wore. To my surprise, she shrunk to average Irken height. I grinned.

"I'm taller than you now," I pointed out. She mumbled incoherently as she pressed a button next to the massive screen. The faces of the Almighty Tallest appeared on it.

"What is it, Tak?" asked Purple.

"Er… One second…"

She knocked me to the ground, and shoved me under a large machine.

"Stay there until I say you can come up."

"What?"

"Shh! Be quiet!"

Tak stood up again.

"Greetings, my Tallest. I'm calling to inquire about Invader Zim."

Almighty Tallest Red snorted.

"What is there to 'inquire', Tak? I mean, really, it seems pretty basic to me! Zim wanted a job, so we sent him to some obscure planet hoping he wouldn't live through the journey, and now we sit around and make fun of him in our spare time!"

"Yeah!" put in Almighty Tallest Purple through a mouthful of something. I couldn't see what was happening, but I hoped against hope that it was a hilarious prank.

"So… What you're saying is that Zim's not really an Invader?"

"No, duh!" Red scoffed.

"You mean you didn't know that?" patronized Purple, who's mouth was still full.

"Well, that's why I'm not an Invader, now isn't it?"

"Um… Sure…"

There was silence. It was broken by Purple choking on whatever he had been eating.

"Well, I'll be going now."

They ignored her, as Red was supposedly pounding Purple on the back. The transmitter went silent.

"You can get up now, Zim."

I stood up and looked into Tak's eyes.

"You mean… All this time… Everything I've done… It's been… Fake?"

"Yes."

I turned away. I was so shocked I couldn't think straight. I took a few steps towards the exit, but I stumbled and had to lean against the wall. I put my head in my hands. I thought back to all those times I had taunted Dib with the "fact" that I would one day rule his world. But I wouldn't.

"Zim?"

I ignored Tak. I tuned everything out as I walked to the exit on the other side of the Base. I pressed the button. The door opened. I walked out into the daylight, dragging my feet with every step. I didn't know what I would do now. All I knew was that my world had ended.


	7. Any Form of Love

_Tak's POV _

Once Zim left, I told Mimi to do my homework. It wasn't that I didn't understand it, it was just that I didn't feel like doing it. I went down to a lower level of my base (also known as a basement) to do some thinking. I went into a room that held only a few items-there was a bed, a TV, and two chairs. I sat down on one of the chairs, leaned back, and closed my eyes.

For some reason, I couldn't get Dib out of my head. I kept remembering how flabbergasted he had been when I told him that Irkens weren't allowed to have friends… Or be in love.

Of course, it was for our own good. I mean, on Earth, people did dumb things all the time for their friends. On Irk, we had a good enough system. We all had the same idea; that the Empire came first, then ourselves.

It wasn't only Dib's reaction I kept thinking of. It was everything about him. His hair, his smile… And when I held his hand… I didn't want to admit it, even to myself, but he was very good-looking, for a human. He had really nice eyes, and he was tall. I shook myself mentally. _He's a human, you're an Irken, _I told myself.

I swallowed, hard. _But Dib is so different… _If I had been two people, I would have slapped myself then and there. I was and Irken, for the Tallest's sake! Irkens did _not _love!

_Dib's POV _

I wrote in the last answer of my Algebra assignment and closed the book. I glanced at the clock. It was 11:30. My homework had taken more time then I had expected. I turned off my desk lamp. I was tempted to call Tak and see how everything went. After all, Irkens didn't need sleep as much as humans, so she was probably awake. But I decided against it.

I got up and stumbled over to my bed. I collapsed as exhaustion poured into my veins, infiltrating every part of my being. It felt so good to be lying down.

Somehow, my thoughts kept turning to Tak. There was something about her that I… Liked. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was pretty sure something was different about her.

My eyes shot open. Was it possible that I was…? No. I couldn't… Tak was an Irken. She was definitely off-limits. And even she wasn't, she still wouldn't like me that way, ever. I sighed. No girl ever would.

_Zim's POV _

I was running faster then I knew I could. All around me I heard maniacal laughter. It was hard to tell who it was. At first it sounded like Dib. Then it sounded more like Gaz. Then Tak. Then Almighty Tallest Purple. Then various classmates. I didn't know what I was running from, all I know was that it was horrible.

Suddenly the whole ground shook and I fell flat on my face. I looked up to see the _Massive_-my leaders' enormous ship-descending onto the ground. I tried to move, but I was paralyzed. I screamed for help, but no one came. I braced myself.

"Master! Master!" Gir was yelling, and I turned my head to see Dib laughing evilly as he brandished an electric screwdriver in the robots face.

"Master!"

I opened my eyes. Gir was shaking me by the shoulders.

"Wake up, Master! You gotta go to Skool!"

I groaned. I didn't want to go to school. I didn't want to go to anything ever again. But I knew that the humans might get suspicious. I may not have been an invader, but I still didn't want any scientists doing tests on me.

As I walked to the Skool, I was more sullen and depressed than I ever had been. Once or twice, I even had to wipe a tear from my eye, but I blamed it on the contacts I wore as part of my disguise. Suddenly I heard someone calling my name.

I looked around to see who it was, and saw Dib running towards me, while Gaz was taking her sweet time. Tak wasn't far behind. I switched to aggressive mode.

"What?"

Dib stopped running when he reached me and tried to catch his breath.

"Tak… Told me about… Your mission," he wheezed.

"So?" I snapped. I was in a very unpleasant mood.

"So… Zim, I want to offer… A truce."

"A _truce?_" I exclaimed, outraged. He nodded. By now he had caught his breath.

"Zim, since your not planning to take over Earth anymore… I was thinking that it would be pointless to go on fighting! And… You know, you'd make a better friend than enemy-"

"Never."

"Huh?"

"I said never! You expect me to just… Throw away my Irken principals and befriend the one human who's been trying to destroy me for the past four years? Act as if nothing ever happened? I will _never _think of any human as anything but my enemy!"

Dib studied my face while Tak gazed at him with an expression that I couldn't read-I was becoming progressively worse at that.

"Okay," he said, "tell me how that works out for you in a few months."

I didn't know what he meant, but he, Gaz, and Tak all passed by me and continued on their merry way.


	8. Vampire Piggies

_Gaz's POV (about time, right?) _

At lunch time, I, as usual, had to sit with my stupid brother, but this time, I also had to sit with his friend, which I didn't like very much. I mean, it wasn't that I didn't like Tak, it was just that when she was around, Dib did a lot more talking, and I found his voice annoying. Also, I could tell that he "liked" her, which I found nauseating. Finally, I could tell that she "liked" him back, which almost made me want to vomit.

I tried hard to focus on my videogame, but it was hard when Dib and Tak were talking about stupid paranormal crud. I was too distracted.

When it became unbearable, I was forced to move to a different spot. The only other table that was nearly empty was Zim's, but I didn't care. I got up and walked across the cafeteria to where Zim was sitting, picking at his food and looking disgusted. When I sat down at his table, I could see that he was confused.

"Before you ask, I had to get away from _them_-"I jerked my head towards Dib and Tak-"so that I could concentrate on my game."

"Uh…"

I ignored him and continued playing. Zim cleared his throat. I annihilated a couple Vampire Pigges. He cleared is throat again. I obtained a key to go on to the next level. He cleared his throat _again,_ and it really, REALLY ticked me off.

"_Would you cut that out?" _

"Um…" He took something out of his pocket and set on the table in front of me. My eyes widened.

"'_Vampire Piggies II?' _"I exclaimed. "That's not supposed to come out until November!" I grabbed it and basked in it's awesomeness.

"Well, Gir kinda broke into the Game Slave building and took it without knowing what it was… I thought you might want it…"

I was so happy I couldn't speak for a few moments. I beamed at him-which was huge, since I hardly ever smiled, let alone beamed.

"Thanks, Zim."

He smiled sadly and went back to picking at his food. That's when I realized I had a conscience.

"Do you… Wanna try it?" I asked.

He looked up at me.

"What, the game?"

I nodded.

"Uh… Sure!"

So I put it in and handed him the Game Slave. I went around to the other side of the table to see how he was. To my surprise, he cleared the first level in three minutes-when my record was six! I let him do a couple more levels, but after level three he forced me to take it back-"It's your game!"

There were still ten minutes until the next period, and though I would have usually been messing around with my videogame, Zim and I somehow… Started… Talking…?

He told me about Irk, and how some of the training they did as kids was somewhat similar to a videogame, which was why he was so good. I thought that was pretty cool.

When the bell rang, I told him something I never thought I would.

"You know, Zim, when your not being stupid, or trying to take over Earth, or something like that, you're actually pretty cool!"

He sighed.

"At least one of us thinks so."

It wasn't until later that I noticed how uncharacteristic it was of him to say something like that.


	9. OneSided Arguments

_Tak's POV _

"DAD!" Dib shouted at the top of his lungs as he opened the door, Gaz and I close behind. "I brought a friend over!"

A tall man with untamed black hair walked into the living room from the kitchen.

"Goodness, son, you don't need too shout! I'm right here!"

Gaz walked past him into the kitchen. Though his eyes were hidden my the goggles he wore, I could tell Dib's father was looking at me. I tried not to feel as nervous as I did.

"Hi… I'm Tak," I told him. He held out his hand and I shook it.

"Professor Membrane. But you've heard of me, I assume?"

I hadn't, but Dib was nodding at me mouthing the word "yes", so I told him that I had. The Professor chuckled.

"Well, you two have fun now. And Dib-?"

Dib looked uncomfortable. "Y-yes?"

Professor Membrane's head turned from me to Dib for a while, as if he wasn't quite sure what he was going to say, but he finally just sighed and said, "Never mind."

The Tallest only knew what _that_ meant, but Dib's face reddened. He grabbed my arm and mumbled, "C'mon," and guided me towards the stairs.

We ascended them and as we were walking down a long hallway I asked, "What do you think he was going to say?"

"Something stupid and embarrassing."

That was a good enough explanation for me; his dad obviously thought we were _dating. _The very thought appalled me. _Me!_ An Irken soldier! Seeing a _human! _It was outrageous!

…Or was it?

Did I really have problem with the idea of people thinking Dib and I were a couple?

Surprisingly, not at all.

Dib's room was near the end of the hall, and I could tell before he told me that it was his by the various signs, pictures, and newspaper clippings, all pertaining to the paranormal.

"Um… My room isn't very clean… Sorry…" He opened the door.

He wasn't lying-there were empty potato chip bags, drawings, soda cans, books, clothes, pencils, and various parts of electronic devices strewn everywhere. However, it looked like he had tried to make the room look cleaner by shoving most of the junk into the corners. There was enough room to walk, anyway, so I told him that it was okay. He smiled, relieved.

"So… Make yourself at home," he said, flopping down on his bed. I sat down in his swivel chair and unzipped my backback, bringing out my history book. Dib looked at me.

"I thought you usually had your robot do your homework," he said.

"That was once. I only do that when I'm too tired or just don't feel like it."

"Could you have her do _my_ homework sometime?" he asked with a playful smile.

"How would you learn anything?" I chided. He gave me a look of mock outrage, and I had to laugh.

I took out a piece of paper and wrote my name, class, period, and the day's date in the corner. I found the page in the book were our assignment was and read the question. I looked up at Dib, to see that he had been looking at me. He looked away quickly. I blushed and was glad he didn't see it.

Dib was lying on his stomach writing in his answer very slowly. He sighed and propped his head up with his forearm. I could tell he was upset about something.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. What he said surprised me.

"Zim's what's wrong. Tak, I'm worried about him! If he's going to be so depressed because of his fake mission… Well, you know! It's not good for him-for _anyone_-to be depressed like that! He's just going to ostracize himself, and then where will he be?"

I thought about what had happened earlier today, during lunch.

"…He has Gaz," I told him.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice?"

Dib shook his head.

"Today at lunch, Gaz went over to his table and they started talking, and… Well, he seemed pretty happy to me…" Dib laughed.

"That couldn't have been Gaz. She _hates_ Zim," he patronized.

"So do you," I reasoned.

"Well, he's not trying to destroy Earth anymore."

"Point taken. But Dib, don't worry about it. Zim's not going to become suicidal or anything."

"I hope not."

I didn't know why Dib was suddenly so concerned for the Irken who had been trying to destroy his entire race for the past four years, but my guess was that he was becoming more mature and selfless. I admired that.

He went back to his homework. I gazed at his pale face and couldn't look away. Dib was so cute…

_No! Bad Tak! Don't think like that! _

_But it's true! _

_No! You're an Irken! An Irken! _

_Maybe I'm a different kind of Irken… _

I tore my eyes away from the human boy and concentrated on my homework, promising myself that if I didn't stop thinking of Dib this way, I would be punished.

_Dib's POV _

"DIB! STOP! I MEAN IT!" Tak shrieked between bursts of laughter. I dug my fingers into her sides, tickling her furiously.

"DIB! I'm sorry, _okay?_ DIB, STOP!"

She laughed harder and continued to yell for help.

"What do you say? What do you say?" I laughed teasingly.

"_Please!" _

"Nope, that's not what you say! That's not what you say!"

I kept tickling her.

"I'm sorry-I said-you-were-a wimp!" she choked. I sat up straight as she gasped for breath.

"Now, was that so hard?"

I helped Tak up off the floor and she punched me in the arm.

"Human friendships are painful!" she observed. I grinned at her, happy that she had referred to me as her friend.

Tak sat down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling as she tried to catch her breath. Though I knew it was a disguise, I couldn't help noticing how pretty her human form was. Actually, the more I thought about it, she wasn't a bad-looking Irken, either.

Of course, it didn't matter. She was still an Irken, and I was still a human, and she was still incapable of loving. Friendship, maybe, but love…

Something occurred to me. A couple days ago, Tak had referred to friendship as a form of love. If she could be my friend, then couldn't she be my girlfriend?

_Here's the problem, stupid! She'd have to like you back, wouldn't she? _

_Maybe she does… _

_Look at yourself! You're a loser! _

_But that doesn't mean anything… _

_No girl would ever like you. _

_But I like her… _

_You do not! She's still an Irken, remember? _

That was true… Tak was still an Irken. I couldn't love an Irken.

And, so, I banished the thought of Tak ever being more than my friend from my mind forever. Or, at least, until the next time I thought of it.


	10. Sick Day Now with Bacon!

_Zim's POV _

It was the fourth day of school, and I didn't feel like going. I didn't want to face Dib, or Tak, or Gaz, or anyone who had been involved in my attempts to take over the world. Besides, I still hated Dib, but he seemed willing to be… Friends? I shuddered. I had had one friend before, and that had not ended well… For him, anyway.

I ascended the chute into the kitchen.

"GIR!"

Gir entered with a fancy display of acrobatics and landed on his feet in front of me, eyes glowing red.

"Yes, my master!"

"Gir, I'm not going to Skool today, I'm 'sick.' I'll be in the lab. Do not-I repeat-do _not_ let anyone in the house while I'm down there. Understood?"

"Meatballs!" shouted Gir, running over to the oven. He took out a tray of charred meatballs that didn't look remotely edible, even for a human. I made a disgusted sound in my throat as Gir dumped them all in his mouth.

"Gir…" I gave up. Whatever I had been about to say wouldn't have made any difference.

_Two hours later _

"I gots bacon! Bacon, bacon, bacon! I gots bacon!"

I had just ascended into the kitchen, and these were the first words I heard. I was annoyed.

"Who has bacon?" I asked as I entered the living room.

"_Me!" _Gir seemed delighted with his… Bacon.

"Get rid of it _now_, Gir!

Gir ignored me.

"I gots me some bacon! I gots bacon and none is for you!"

He continued his irritating song for a while, despite my orders for him to shut up.

"Hey, Master! Guess what?"

"_What_, Gir?" I asked, exasperated.

"BACON!" And he hit me in the face with a strip of meat.

"AAAAAAAAUGH!"

I clawed at my face and collapsed on the couch, screaming and yelling and screaming until I forgot why I had been doing it. Then I sat up. I knew I had to tell Gir that our mission was over, no matter what effect it might have on him.

"Gir, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"YAY!"

"…I said _bad_ news, Gir. Bad news is _bad_."

"…YAY!"

I stared at him. Reflected in the robots large blue eyes I saw my entire past; my ambition as a child, my failure in Operation Impending Doom I, my many squabbles with Dib, Tak coming to Earth, Tak leaving Earth, Tak returning to Earth… I saw it all. And I knew that that was how my life would always be.

"…Gir, it's about our mission…"

Gir was completely ignoring me. Everything I said flew right past his artificial head-he was too busy staring at the TV, which, incidentally, was turned off.

"-so we're not trying to take over Earth anymore. I don't know what we'll do… But we're _not_ returning to Irk."

Gir looked up at me when I finished talking.

"So you gonna be a _real boy_, Master?" he asked. I found this remark completely irrelevant to the discussion.

"Gir… Please… Don't… Talk."

"OKAY!"

"I said not to talk, Gir!"

"…OKAY!"

"GIR!"

"WHAT?"

"You're TALKING!"

"SORRY!"

My eye twitched.

"Imma go make some more bacon!" chirped Gir, heading towards the kitchen.

"NO! Gir, as of this moment, you are forbidden to so much as _mention_ that word in my presence! _Understood?_"

"What word?"

"Bacon!"

"BACON!" And he sprinted into the kitchen.

"NO!"

I ran after him and tackled him to the ground. He looked up at me.

"I love you too, Master!"

I growled.


	11. Away from the Sun

**A/N: Later, Zim seems fine and then sees Dib and starts crying… This is not an error, I'm implying that Dib reminds Zim of how bad he feels… Enjoi! **

_Zim's POV _

I stepped outside for a second, to see what the weather was like. I shivered. Too cold. I went back inside to get a jacket or a hoodie. I looked over at Gir, who was laughing loudly at some humans killing each other on TV.

"Gir?"

He didn't answer.

"Gir!"

Still no answer, but I went on.

"I'm going out for a while. I'll be back in an hour or so."

"'Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay…"

I pulled on my black hoodie and went out the door.

I looked up at the sky. The sun was getting low, and I guessed that there were maybe three more hours of daylight. I hung my head, the way I saw so many human teenagers do when they walked. All around me, things were happening. Young children laughed and played in piles of dead leaves; women laughed or argued with one another; men blasted country music from their garages and tried to fix their bicycles or cars. I felt a bitter tear slide down my cheek. Stupid humans and their disgusting habits. They deserved to be destroyed. I could do it if I wanted to… Who cared if the Tallest didn't need me?

A ball rolled over to be and bumped against my leg.

"Hey, Green Boy!" squealed a girl with brown pigtails. "Can you throw me my ball?"

I picked it up and threw it as hard as I could in the girl's direction, and she caught it.

"Thanks, Green Boy!" The girl then seemed to notice my mood. "What's wrong, Green Boy? You look sad!"

"My name isn't 'Green Boy', little girl!"

"I know, Zim, but I like calling you 'Green Boy!'"

"Why is that?"

"'Cause you're green, and I like green, and I like you!"

"Oh. Thanks, I guess."

She waved to me as I passed by, and for the first time since I met her, I actually waved back. It had been a long time since anyone told me they liked me.

After about ten more minutes of walking, I found myself on a familiar street. This was where Dib and Gaz lived. I stopped in front of their house. A flood of memories came rushing back to me. I remembered the few times I had come here for help. I remembered the time Dib and I worked together in his lab… If he hadn't let me work there, who knows what might have happened. I never repaid him for that. The one time he had asked me for help, I refused.

Why did I feel guilty? He was my enemy. I wasn't supposed to help him.

Suddenly, the front door opened. I turned and sprinted down the street, and I didn't stop running until I reached the park.

I looked around. A band was playing under a pavilion in the center of the park, and there was a fairly large group of people watching them. There were children playing with a Frisbee near the tennis courts, and a couple of teenagers were walking hand-in-hand near the soccer field. The only place completely void of people was the playground. I headed over there.

I climbed up to nearly the top of the jungle gym and sat there, leaning my forehead against one of the metal bars. No one could see my face up here. No one could see that I was crying.

Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't I have been given a real mission, instead of being sent here? There was an infinite number of "whys" running through my mind. I was heartbroken.

I looked over to the pavilion, where the band had started playing a new song. The guitarist was playing some calm notes that sounded good. I hopped down from the jungle gym. I wanted to hear the rest of the song.

I found a spot near the back of the crowd, next to a large, beefy man who looked proud. He might have been related to one of the musicians.

The lead singer-a boy, 18 or 19 years old-began singing.

"_It's down to this… I've got to make this life make sense. Can anyone tell what I've done?" _

That somehow spoke to me; it was like someone had written the song to describe how I felt.

"_I miss the life, I miss the colors of the world. Can anyone tell where I am? 'Cause now, again, I've found myself so far down, away from the sun that shines into the darkest place, I'm so far down, away from the sun again… Away from the sun, again." _

I sat there, listening intently. That song had to have been written for me! Every word fit my emotions perfectly. Unfortunately, it was over too soon. Hearing that song encouraged me. It made me think, hey, things aren't that bad!

I smiled and wiped a tear from my eye. I turned to walk away, and found myself face-to-face with Dib.

_Dib's POV _

Zim turned around and looked at me. He was obviously surprised to see me. I don't know what I expected him to do-yell at me, shove me out of his way, or ignore me altogether. I didn't expect him to cry, which was what he did.

He hung his head and closed his eyes. He began breathing heavily through his teeth. Then he covered his face with his hands and just shook.

"Zim…" I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know how. I had never been confronted with the prospect of having to comfort my enemy, but he looked to helpless… A scrawny, short guy who needed a friend.

I hugged him. It was definitely the most awkward hug ever, but he didn't seem to mind. He just cried into my shoulder while I tried to ignore the weird looks we were getting. It went on for about ten minutes before he broke away.

"D-Dib?" he stammered.

"Yeah?"

"Don't… Tell anyone I was… You know."

"Heaven forbid."

"And if you do I'll… Destroy you!"

I grinned.

"Understood."

He smiled back.

"See you at Skool…" I said.

"Yeah… See you, Earth-boy."

I began to walk away. _Weird how I was is worst enemy, and now I'm his best friend. _


	12. Malfunction

_Tak's POV _

Let me get one thing straight-I hate teenage human girls. From my experience, they're all vapid, self-centered, brainless organisms who like nothing better then to harass and publicly humiliate each other. They make darn good puppets, though.

What I mean by that is… Well, I'll tell you.

On Saturday, I decided to do some research on Earth, since the science classes in Skool were so uninformative, it was positively laughable. I was in the park, and Mimi and I were collecting plant and soil samples for testing. There wasn't much to work with, it being autumn and all, but we did what we could.

I put a small chip of birch bark into the case I was using to carry the specimens and stood up, finding myself face-to-face with Jessica.

Jessica was wearing her signature smirk, and I could tell that I was about to get a severe verbal beating.

"What are you doing?" she laughed. I glared at her.

"Nothing your infinitesimal brain could possibly comprehend," I shot back. She flipped her blond hair and cackled gleefully.

"Can't you talk like a normal kid for once?" she chided.

"If it means using the words 'like' every other word, then I'd rather not."

Jessica raised an eyebrow and graced me with the most creative insult ever concocted.

"You're so weird."

"Thank you."

I turned around, not wanting to interact any further with this creature, but she ran ahead of me and stopped me in my tracks.

"You know what I heard, Tak?" she asked with an evil grin. I folded my arms.

"What, Jessica?"

"I heard Dib likes you!"

I stiffened. This was obviously some cruel joke. Somehow, someone had guessed how I felt about Dib…

"You know who told me?" Jessica teased. I gritted my teeth.

"Nostra Dames wrote it in a bathroom stall. Leave me alone."

I was about to walk around her, but she actually put out a hand to stop me.

"Torque told me. He said Dib was writing your name over and over in his notebook during algebra!"

Jessica threw her head back and laughed. I scowled. Torque was probably in on the joke, too. He was Jessica's boyfriend, after all.

"What a _sissy! _I mean, what guy _does_ that? Although, it's not like you could do much better!"

It wasn't so much what she had implied-I couldn't care less what Jessica thought of me-as what she had actually said. Dib was _not _a sissy. Sure, his little sister had beat him up a couple times, but, from what I heard, she had beaten up most of the guys at the Middle Skool.

I stared at Jessica, looking as neutral as my anger would allow. She snorted.

"You gonna cry, Tak? Go ahead and cry! I can't wait to tell-"

Jessica made eye-contact with me, and couldn't look away. My genetically enhanced brainwaves had her in a hypnotic trance that only I could break.

"Jessica, could you please eat some dirt?" I asked pleasantly. The girl bent down, picked up a handful of soil, and shoved it into her mouth. I waited for her to swallow before continuing. I sat down on a nearby bench.

"Now," I said, casually, "if you could sing a couple choruses of 'Barbie Girl', I'd really appreciate it."

Jessica's mouth opened and out came the words-"I'm a Barbie girl! In a Barbie world! Life in plastic, it's fantastic!"

And so on. Much to my delight, Zita and Sara decided to pass by, just at that moment. They stared in awe as their friend bellowed, "Life is your creation!"

I laughed, enjoying the scene perhaps a bit too much. At first, I barely noticed the throbbing pain in my temple. Then it intensified. In my mind, I heard a loud "pop", and I fell to the ground, unconscious.

_Dib's POV, ten minutes earlier _

"Dib!" shouted Gaz impatiently.

"What?"

"Hurry up!"

"Fine!"

I closed my laptop and stood up for the first time in three hours-only to discover that my legs were asleep.

"GAZ!" I shouted, stumbling. My little sister caught me just before I could hit the ground.

"Stop being stupid and let's go!" she chided.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," I mumbled.

We were going to the park, as requested by my dad. He said that fresh air "made children into better human beings." He said the same for videogames and prunes (another reason I will never be a scientist-their minds work in strange ways).

We headed out the door. It was a nice day, for early September. The sky was clear and there was a cool breeze blowing, but the air still held that nostalgic scent of dead leaves.

"Gaz?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"Do you think, if there were no goats around, a chupacabra would eat a sheep or something?"

Gaz growled.

"One more question like that, and you'll find yourself missing a limb or two."

In the twelve years I had known Gaz, I had learned to shake off her threats, no matter how truthful they usually were. I did the same with this one.

When we reached the park, something caught my eye. Three girls from my school-Jessica, Zita and Sara, were all gathered around a large object on the ground. They shot each other horrified looks and ran towards me. I knew they weren't coming to me, just traveling in my general direction. I realized with a jolt that the thing on the ground was a person. I purple-blue-haired person. I sprinted in her direction, nearly slamming into Sara as I passed her.

I stopped when I reached Tak and knelt to the ground, cradling the motionless girl's head in my hands. What had happened? Was she…

I felt for a pulse, trying to quell my worst fears-that my friend was dying. I found one. The panic subsided momentarily, but returned a second later.

There was a bruise on her temple, which was a sickening purplish-gray. Her face was swollen and a pale shade of green. Her body trembled. The bracelet on her wrist that allowed her to transform was flickering the word MALFUNCTION, which I knew couldn't be good.

I turned to Gaz, who, I discovered, had followed me, and looked-not exactly concerned, but more… Disgruntled.

"Gaz! We have to get her help!"

"We'll take her to a hospital, then."

"No! They'll find out that she's… You know…"

The younger girl raised an eyebrow.

"You have too much faith in your fellow man, bro."

"We have to take her to our house! It's the closest, and Dad can help her…"

"Won't he find out that she's-"

I ignored her and lifted Tak from the ground, carrying her bridal-style. She wasn't as heavy as I had expected. Her head rested against my shoulder.

Behind me, Mimi made a few angry noises.

"Oh, shut up!" I grumbled, and began to walk. Mimi and Gaz followed.

I was going to do whatever I could do to help the girl I loved.

I set Tak down on the couch, propping her head up with a pillow. I stared down at her. She looked horrible-I was so worried, I couldn't think straight. Next to me, Mimi was staring blankly at her mistress-unlike Zim's robot, I had discovered, Mimi didn't express emotion very often.

All the time I was worrying, Gaz was doing something helpful. She was dialing Zim's number. Though I wasn't listening, I later discovered that I could recall Gaz's end of the conversation almost word-for-word.

"Zim, we need you to come over here. Now….It's my stupid brother's girlfriend… No, Brittany Spears! Who did you think I was talking about…? Yeah, she's unconscious. She might have some kind of stupid Irken disease… Well, her skin looks kinda green… Look, just get over here before my brother has a breakdown, okay?"

She hung up.

I took Tak's hand and held it, knowing I wouldn't have the courage to do that if she weren't zonked out on the couch. I wondered what would happen if I lost her. She was the only girl I had ever loved.

Funny how a near-tragedy can make you admit things you normally wouldn't.

Zim was at our house in a few minutes, looking annoyed. His little robot, Gir, followed closely behind.

"You really shouldn't have moved her, you know," Zim muttered, giving Tak a once-over.

"Well, I had to get her somewhere-"

Zim held up a hand, signaling that he wanted me to stop talking. He bent down over Tak and peered at her bruise.

"Hm…"

He took her arm and clicked a button on her bracelet. It popped off with a small _ksssssh _noise. Immediately, Tak's image flickered into her Irken form-except for her height.

_Tak's POV _

What probably awakened me was the excruciating pain in my spine. I let out a scream. When I had the strength to open my eyes, I saw five pairs of eyes staring down at me. Three human and two robotic. No… Two human, one Irken, two robotic… I couldn't think straight.

"How are you feeling, Tak?" Dib asked. I struggled a bit while I sat up. Dib helped a bit.

"I feel like I got hit by a human land vehicle…"

Truck. Yeah. That's what it was called.

I touched my head, where I had a severe throbbing pain. I winced. Dib took my hand and held it tightly. It made me feel much better.

"What happened?" asked Zim, neutrally.

I explained everything. I tactfully left out the part about Dib writing my name in his notebook, and Gaz thoroughly enjoyed the "Barbie Girl" part, but when I got to the part where I passed out, Zim was confused.

"Wait… You passed out when you had Jessica in a trance?"

I nodded. Zim stared at me, perplexed.

"I don't get it!" he said, getting up and wandering to the other side of the room. Gaz spoke.

"Geez, I thought you Irkens were supposed to be smart. Obviously, the energy of Tak's bracelet and the genetic modification of your brain waves required for one to shut down. Since your Pak provides more than enough support for your brain, the obvious choice was the bracelet, which, incidentally, is linked to your brain. The confusion caused an overall meltdown of your body, and you passed out."

She said this in her characteristically bored tone, which almost made the situation humorous. Zim looked at Dib.

"How can you two be related?" he asked, obviously impressed with Gaz's knowledge. Dib grumbled.

"I like to think she's adopted."

Gaz rolled her eyes.

I picked up my bracelet and twirled it around my fingers. I sighed.

"I wonder if I'll ever be able to use this thing again," I said.

Zim opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced by something behind the couch I was on. His face was horror-stricken. I saw that Dib wore the same expression. Gaz let out a quiet, "Oh crap."

Gir raised a hand and waved.

"Hey, Dib's daddy!" he squealed.

_Oh no_, I thought.

I sat up straight and turned my head to see Professor Membrane gawking at me-without my disguise.


	13. Closure

**Chapter 13-Closure**

_Gaz's POV _

"You're… An… Alien?" breathed Dad. I looked over at Tak, who stared at my dad like he was waving a weapon in her face. No one said anything, until my stupid brother opened his mouth.

"Dad-it's not what it looks like!"

Dad looked at him.

"Son… All this time I thought you were crazy... But you were telling the truth!"

Dib looked like he was gonna panic.

"Uh… Yeah… Well, I guess, but-"

"I'm so sorry I doubted you! I'm… So proud of you, son!"

Dib didn't say anything to that. For the past four years, he had been trying to convince out dad that Zim was an alien, who was trying to take over Earth. Dad had thought he was crazy. I hadn't thought about it much, but I guess it must have hurt him, that his own dad had thought he was insane.

"It's… Okay," Dib mumbled. Zim cleared his throat.

"Um… Yes. Professor, we really have to ask that you don't tell anyone about this."

Dad shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. This is probably the biggest scientific discovery since Project Kiwi! I'm not letting it go unacknowledged!"

Dib stood up.

"I can't let you do this, Dad! Tak's my friend! I lo-"

He cut himself off. Zim raised an eyebrow, obviously guessing what Dib was about to say. I was disgusted.

Dad took a few steps towards Tak.

"Tak, run!" yelled Zim.

Tak jumped up, even though she was still pretty weak. Before even I could see what was happening, Dad had taken a remote out of him pocket and was pressing a large red button. Even if the large metal bars hadn't appeared on the door, Tak probably wouldn't have gotten too far. She stumbled over her own weight and collapsed on the floor.

Dib was hysterical. He looked at me with wide eyes.

"I didn't know he could do that! _Did you know he could do that?_"

His voice was higher than normal, probably because of the stress.

Don't get me wrong-I wouldn't say I _like _Tak. But I have to admit she's pretty cool. I didn't really want her to get dissected or whatever it was scientists do to aliens. So, I guess I was kinda ticked that Dad had found out about her.

Dad took out his cell phone and dialed. Dib and Zim were shouting angrily at him while Tak stood there like an idiot.

"Hello, Niles? Membrane. You won't believe what my son brought home!"

Part of me (the small part that wasn't too ashamed of being related to Dib) couldn't believe what was going on. It didn't feel right that my dad finally believed my stupid brother about something, but there was nothing I could do.

_Dib's POV _

_NO! _my mind screamed. It all seemed too surreal-my dad trying to convince a scientist that we had discovered an alien. I knew one thing, though: I loved tak and I wasn't going to let her be destroyed. So, I did the most logical, rational thing that came to mind: I told Zim's robot to steal my dad's phone.

"Okay, Dibbeh!" he shouted. He jumped up and grabbed my dad's head.

"Hey-o!" he screamed. He snatched the phone and ran into the kitchen. Dad chased after him.

"HEY! YOU GIVE THAT BACK!" he bellowed. Gir giggled as he ran around the room, occasionally saying something into the phone.

"I eat soap! I wear pants on my head! I'm a mongoose!"

He ran back into the living room and right past Zim and me. As Dad passed, Zim jumped up and clamped something around his head.

"Where did come from?" I asked.

"My Pak," he said simply. He looked back at Dad.

"Professor Membrane. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," my dad replied in a monotone.

"Good. Now, Membrane… Tak here-" he jerked his head at Tak-"isn't an alien. She's wearing a very elaborate… Halloween… Costume…" Zim made a face like he didn't approve of his own explanation. "No… You don't believe in aliens. That's just your crazy son talking."

"Thanks, Zim, you're the best."

"Now, you should go… Take a nap… Or whatever."

Dad nodded and turned around to go into his bedroom. When he was gone, I released the breath that I realized I had been holding. Tak smiled at me. She looked like she was recovering from the drama of the afternoon.

When it was finally quiet, I thought about what had happened. I knew it was good that Dad wouldn't remember that Tak was an alien… But hearing him say that he was sorry-that he was proud of me-had been awesome. I sat down next to Tak and sighed. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her watching me.

Gaz looked at me.

"Well, it's been fun, but I'm leaving."

She stomped upstairs.

_Tak's POV _

"GIR!" shouted Zim.

"What?" replied Gir.

"We have work to do. Come on."

"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

They headed towards the door.

"Hey, Space-boy!" Dib called. Zim stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For everything."

Zim smiled.

"No problem, Earth-boy."

He left.

I nudged Dib.

"Are you alright?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I guess. I mean, I know it's good that my dad won't remember anything… But… He won't be… He won't be…"

"Proud of you."

Dib looked up at me. I did not look away.

"It sounds dumb, I know," he began, "but it's so hard… Every day, knowing how much of a disappointment I am. I feel like this is the only way to get him to… Understand me."

Perhaps it was because of how sad he looked, or maybe I just felt like it, but I leaned forward and kissed him.

"You might be a disappointment to him, but I think you're terrific."

He beamed at me.

"At least one of us thinks so."

He put an arm around me, and we stayed like that for a long time.

THE END!

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading! And I'm sorry if the ending was really bad... But hey, it's the first fanfic I ever finished that wasn't a one-shot, and 13 chapters isn't too shabby! Special thanks to Sarah, Samson, Amanda, Janelle, Kayla, Brigette, and the other people who read this... And to Rose, who would stab me in my sleep if she knew I wrote this... And to The Used, who's song I used in chapter 2 (haha so they really are the "used"... Get it? Get it?) and 3 Doors Down, who's song I used in chapter 11... And Frank Iero, just 'cause he's awesome... And Marie, who's a grammar Nazi... And to Jhonen Vasquez, who created this world for me to wreak havoc in... And my mom. Because thanks to her, I'm alive. And Elena, who hates DaTr... And Maura, who just hates Invader Zim. And to God, for giving me hands so that I can type. And you. I luff you! :3**


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